Yachō ni Kago
by Arden Tenjou
Summary: Story of how Levi found a place in the Survey Corps, inspired by the Birth of Levi manga. Levi knew nothing but pain and darkness until Erwin dragged him up and forced him to look into the light. After losing his dearest friends, Levi is lost and cold. Erwin takes advantage and steals a kiss. Levi soon pays him back for that. Yaoi, ErwinxLevi.
1. Chapter 1

Yachō ni Kago / Cage for a Wild Bird

Note 1: This story is based on Shingeki no Kyojin: Levi Gaiden, Kuinaki Sentaku (Attack on Titan: Birth of Levi), the Levi-centric manga which came out recently. There will be some spoilers, so if you want to read the manga first, by all means do that. In this first chapter, this story will go past what is written and start postulating (based on an Erwin x Levi romance plot).

Note 2: Rated M for language, mild violence, and lemons in later chapters. But in case you've read my stuff before, and were expecting some smex right away, I'm afraid this story will move a bit slower, and will emulate the manga as much as possible. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter One

Levi glared up at this blond dog of the military from where he knelt in the filth, seething with hatred. "Yeah, fuck it," he said eventually, in his most offensive, sneering drawl. "I'll join your Survey Corps."

He had said this mostly to save his friends from the threat of the blades at their necks, but partly out of an overwhelming desire to kill the man standing over him. The first one ever to catch him. Erwin Smith, he called himself. Son of a bitch.

One of his friends, Farren, managed to convince Levi not to murder that giant immediately when they got out of the lower city; he was right, logically it made more sense to use him to make some money and get out of the ghetto. But Levi knew better than to expect everything to go to plan. He would follow Farren's advice as long as it made sense, and when it didn't, he would do whatever it took to protect himself and his friends, a he always did.

But a few things happened that even he did not expect, while he was training with the Survey Corps. At first, he didn't understand how they could be so eager to throw their lives away, knowing himself how hard it was to stay alive even when titans weren't involved. But his opinion of them changed somewhat the first time he set eyes on the vast openness beyond the wall.

It was so bright. That was the first thing he noticed. He'd spent the last few years under the ground, lucky to find a few glimpses of sunlight here and there, but even above ground, he'd never realized how much light the walls and buildings blocked inside the city. The grass went on forever, no sign of human interference anywhere to be seen. The sunlight was not only bright, but warm. He had low blood pressure and tended to be cold most of the time, so the sensation of riding into the sunlight was undeniably pleasant.

Beside him, Farren and Isabela were frankly losing their shit.

"It's like somebody smeared the countryside out to cover the whole world!" Isabela cried gleefully.

"Crazy!" Farren muttered, his mouth hanging open.

Levi returned his gaze to the vast, sunlit land before them. "Yeah. It's not bad."

The first ever titan he killed, he admitted he had only been able to do because he saw how it killed the two soldiers who went in before him. He didn't consider it to be that big of an accomplishment. The three of them met up that night to discuss their plans, and Levi didn't really think about what he done that day. But then a soldier with glasses (and strangely indiscernible gender) named Hange Zoe cornered him.

"Everyone's dying to know how you do what you do. Seeing you fight brings us hope, and encourages us that defeating the titans isn't impossible." The strange soldier smiled at him. "It was really something."

He stared at the weirdo, not really having any kind of response for that. Or for the searching eyes of the rest of the team standing behind this Hange person, seemingly keen to hear his secrets, for that matter. He glanced aside bitterly, thinking about a conversation that had happened just a short time before. For some reason he didn't understand himself, he hadn't told Isabella or Farren about it yet. He assumed he would eventually, but…somehow, inside he still felt strange.

It was as his companions were searching Erwin's things. The man himself returned from his meeting earlier than expected, and Levi, on lookout, was forced to think of his feet. He cursed, knowing he would have to make conversation to keep him occupied, without making him suspicious.

The Nordic man noticed his expression and stopped. He glanced to Levi's left and right a little. "You're alone? Where are your subordinates?"

Levi scowled, refusing to look at him. "They're not my subordinates."

Erwin nodded. "I see." There was an awkward pause as Erwin stopped speaking for a moment. Levi's heartbeat started to raise, knowing he wasn't good at small talk, but he had to keep him here without arousing suspicion. Fortunately, Erwin then said, "So. How are you liking the Corps so far?"

Levi glanced skyward in thought. "It's a club for psychos and adrenaline junkies. And, of course, zealots who don't mind throwing their lives away."

"Of course," Erwin said, surprising him with his honesty. "Who else would risk their lives like this?"

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Hm. I guess that makes you chief zealot, then."

"I must tell you, it was really impressive seeing you today," Erwin said, smiling a little. Obviously he wasn't offended by Levi's comment. "I had high hopes, but I never expected you to take down an aberrant on your first day. Your teammates will feel a great sense of relief with you around, I'm sure."

Levi's mouth fell open at that, feeling an uncomfortable lurch in his stomach at the idea. Relief? Having these psychos depend on him? He could hardly admit it to himself, but he felt a sudden sense of fear at the idea. He cast a cold gaze at the ground before answering.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it if those two hadn't died before me," Levi muttered, gaze growing cold as his mind brought up images of how the titan ripped them up. "I saw the way it moved and why they died, that's the only reason I knew what to do."

Erwin's gaze seemed to grow more intense as he observed him silently for a time. "Is that so?" he asked softly. He nodded to himself. "Indeed, as you say, we are a society that is built on the sacrifices of others. Without them, we would not be able to progress."

And then Erwin said the thing that stuck with Levi for many years to come. "But just so you know, not a single one of us regrets the sacrifices we've made, and continue to make. There isn't one of us who wouldn't offer up our hearts, if it meant humanity taking the world back from them. We're that kind of society too."

Levi's eyes widened. He couldn't think of anything to say. For one of the first times in his life, he was utterly speechless. He couldn't decide for a long time after that if Erwin was really a hero, or if he was just fucking crazy.

At that moment though, Isabella appeared around the corner, skillfully hiding any signs of suspicious behavior. "Okay, Levi, done changing now," she said, adjusting her jacket. "God, you're such a prude."

"Mm. Coming," he said. He shared one last oddly significant glance with Erwin, then followed her and tried to forget it had happened.

Levi hated to admit it, but the longer he was around these people, the stranger he started to feel about what they were doing. Not so much so that he intended to drop their plans to betray and kill this man, but it did make him gradually more uncomfortable. And then, the next day, after the three of them had decided they would have no choice but to kill Erwin, the unthinkable happened.

Erwin's system of smoke rounds as advanced warning was working well at first – Levi had been very impressed the previous day. But then out of nowhere, the storm came.

None of the colored smoke was visible from more than fifty meters in the rain, and dissipated in moments. Levi felt a jolt of familiar fear as their situation looked bleak. Then, he had an idea.

"It's chaos now, the formation is broken. We won't get a better chance while we're outside the wall," he said, just loud enough that Isabela and Farren could hear him, but hopefully no one else riding near. "I think we should take him now."

Farren looked uncertain at first, and Isabela almost upset. But eventually, they exchanged a glance, their intense loyalty to Levi kicking in, and they both nodded. All at once, and ignoring the voice of their squad leader calling them, they squeezed their horses' flanks and shot off toward the front of the formation.

It was impossible to see more than a few hundred feet ahead in this weather, and they had to dodge the odd other group of soldiers, now panicking and trying to draw in their ranks. Once, a 3-meter-class titan stomped into view and picked one man right up off his horse and bit his screaming head off. Isabella went white and nearly fell off her horse, but Levi rode in front of her to block her view and keep her heading forward. They would have to go fast, before the formation was completely lost, or they would have no idea where Erwin was.

"There!" said Farren, pointing ahead and slightly to the left.

Levi followed his gaze and spotted the blond head among their superiors now racing to join with the rest of the group. Unfortunately, they were not alone. A 13-meter-class titan was hard on their tail, swinging his huge arms like pendulums, far too fast to avoid when any soldiers came close.

Levi clicked his tongue angrily. This was bad. If they killed him now, there would be no time to find the documents they needed. The best options was to drag his horse along behind them, and hope his corpse didn't fall off. If it did, or if killing him slowed them down, all these months of training, and risking their lives by leaving the wall, would have been for nothing. Was it too risky?

By some insane luck, Miké Zacharius shot into view, and sliced right through the nape of the approaching titan. Erwin even briefly stopped to grab Miké's horse for him. Now, thought Levi. Now, before the giant fell.

He kicked his horse, and drew his blade as he raced for his target. Suddenly, Erwin's head whirled around toward him, and Levi's heart pounded as Erwin drew his blade too. Levi snarled, assuming Erwin had caught on and was attempting to defend himself. But then he heard the scream.

Levi's eyes widened. He stopped his horse in its tracks and yanked it around back toward the direction he'd come from. An aberrant titan, 10-meter-class, had come out of nowhere behind them, with a big sickening grin on its face. And dangling from her cloak, which was held between the titan's index finger and thumb, Isabela was screaming.

"Damn it!" cried Farren in a panic. "What are you doing?! Cut him! What's wrong with you?!"

Levi's heart jumped into his throat. This couldn't be happening. He kicked his horse again, this time racing for the titan holding Isabela. But he knew already he was too far. Isabella thrashed in its grasp, even firing her grappling hooks at the ground, trying to get away, but she couldn't reach the giant, or anything to grab onto. The muddy earth rejected any attempt to dig into it. As Levi watched in horror, totally helpless, she looked up at him with pleading eyes as the titan reached up with its other hand and broke her back. Then it tossed her limp body into its mouth and swallowed.

Levi couldn't think. His whole head seemed to fill with rage and hate, he couldn't even comprehend what was happening. Farren was frozen in shock as the titan suddenly ran forward, stomping on his horse. The animal died instantly, and Farren was thrown some twenty feet away. He lay shivering on the ground, not even reaching for his blades as the titan's hand reached for him.

Once again, his eyes met Levi's as the giant's hand neatly picked him up, in the process crushing his internal organs, and popped him in its mouth.

Levi's body went cold. Rage turned briefly to nothingness as the shock rolled over him. So this was how the giants ate people. That was the only thought that came into his head as his horse continued barreling through the rain, headed for the monster that had just killed the only approximation he had to family.

Then, like a wave building in the water, his rage started to return. Soon that was all that was left. His humanity abandoned him as he raced toward the creature, drawing his blades in a total state of murderous nothingness.

His body on total auto-pilot, he fired his grappling hook and stuck it in the neck of the monster. The titan's grin faded as it tried to grab his wire, but Levi merely took a calming breath, then arched his arms around him, and spun at lightning speed for the titan.

He didn't care what he was slicing, he just wanted to cause it pain. His blades sliced neatly through its fingers as it tried to grab him, and subsequently through the beast's forearm as it tried to defend itself. The monster made a couple of half-hearted noises of distress, then Levi jumped onto its head. He locked himself there by firing both grappling hooks into the skull itself. His eyes widened with rage. He raised one blade high over his head, then stabbed it violently into the titan's eye.

It screamed, trying to swat him off, but he deftly dodged each attempt, and merely stabbed it again and again. Finally, he detached what was left of his blade and left it buried in that ruined eye socket, then did the same with the other eye.

The monster was rampaging around, screaming in pain and trying to swat him off, unsuccessfully. Levi merely glared down at it, and drew two fresh blades. Instead of going for the nape, though it would have been easy now, he jumped lightly down and positioned himself over the face of the creature. He raised his blade, and without thinking, sliced the creature's nose off.

Its scream increased its pitch, not that he cared. He then began carving at that face like a mad man, slashing over and over, much though none of these strikes would kill the creature. Nor, of course, would they bring his friends back. His muscles finally grew tired and he stopped for a moment to view his work.

"Levi, watch out!"

He glanced with very little interest at the speaker. It was Erwin, on his horse below. What was he yelling about?

All of a sudden, Levi realized the titan had removed one of his grappling hooks from its own head and was holding the wire in its giant fist. His eyes widened. That was not good. Normally, he may have been fast enough to slice that giant hand right off the wrist, but even if he was not physically and mentally exhausted, he knew without looking that he had no fresh blades left. He'd used them all carving up this bastard's face. He sighed, and in the moment before the monster pulled his wire, he closed his eyes in resignation.

Slice!

Levi's eyes went wide as suddenly his wire went slack. For the second time in their acquaintance, Erwin had sliced it. Levi was still heading for the giant's huge, open mouth, but at the last moment, Erwin changed direction by kicking off the stump of a hand, and tackled Levi in mid-air. Together, they tumbled to the soggy ground.

The only thing that saved their lives at that moment, as they lay briefly defenseless on the wet ground, was the fact that, though it had had time to regenerate its ruined eyes by now, Levi's blades were both still stick in those eye sockets. The titan moaned and trundled blindly around, looking for them.

Erwin got up and grabbed Levi by the collar. "Get up!" he said.

Levi was still somewhat in shock, so Erwin yanked him up by the scruff with him, whistled for his horse, mounted and then dragged Levi in front of him. "Ya!" he cried, kicking his horse's flanks.

Levi sat motionless in front of him as they rode through the pounding rain, trying to catch up with what was left of the battalion. Soldiers were riding with them here and there, but others were screaming and dying around them. Slowly, amid the madness of sound, Levi's senses started to return to him. He grabbed the wet fabric of Erwin's cloak, gripping it so hard his hand started to go numb in the cold rain.

"Put me down," he muttered darkly.

If Erwin heard, he paid him no attention, simply continued looking straight ahead and riding hard through the storm.

"Hey, you shitty bastard. Put me down," Levi growled, hitting Erwin rather hard in the chest.

Erwin paused, his expression still as stoic and unreadable as ever. "No," he said eventually.

Levi glared up at him in mild disbelief for a moment. Then rage rolled over his features. "Why not?!" he hissed.

Erwin frowned somewhat, and eventually his blue eyes flicked down to meet Levi's enraged black ones. "Because you're too valuable to the human race."

"Fuck the human race!" Levi cried, hitting him again. "Let me down right now."

"Levi," Erwin said, reaching up and cupping Levi's face in his hand, an action Levi did not understand at first. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Though Levi was a little too distracted to think much about it, in the midst of that storm, Erwin then leaned down and pressed his cold lips to Levi's. He parted briefly and murmured again, "I'm sorry." Then he joined their lips together once again and held Levi tight to him for a long few moments.

Levi honestly didn't care about anything at that moment, so he didn't fight hard. Soon, he was too cold, both inside and out, to bother thinking at all. So when Erwin wrapped his cloak around him and held him tighter still to protect him from the rain, he said nothing.

Commander Shardis was riding in front and shouting to get the attention of everyone who could still ride. Following him, they soon outran the storm, and made it back to the wall. They lost a third of their force in that one storm. And for Levi, his reason for living. Little did he knew, Erwin was already making plans to get that back for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Yachō ni Kago / Cage for a Wild Bird

Chapter Two

Levi honestly spent a lot of time after that in a vaguely violent haze. He had most of the rest of the army terrified simply by the blank and dark look in his eyes. When he punched a superior in the stomach for insulting the underground he came from, no one said a word. During this time, Erwin was mostly busy dealing with politics in the inner ring. Although what happened was not his fault, it did take a lot of explaining to convince the rich and powerful that the Survey Corps was not simply a hole to throw their money into.

Levi skipped dinner one night and went wandering in the city, which was obviously something the Survey Corps did not really allow. But no one stopped him. He just wanted to be distracted by looking at something other than a bunch of sweaty adrenaline junkies. Unfortunately, he happened to walk down the wrong alley to find some Military Police beating the shit out of a teenager who seemed to have stolen some food. Levi observed these scene, determined it was nothing to do with him and at first simply walked around them.

One rather unobservant Kenpeidan officer grabbed his arm before he got to the end of the alley. The man, somewhat older and with an obvious beer gut, menaced him by leaning down inches from his face and saying, "Hey. Where do you think you're going, shorty?"

Levi's eyes narrowed. Hm, he thought. Maybe this will make me feel better. Or at least feel something.

After glancing away with a slight sigh, and with no warning, Levi spun around and broke the officer's ankle with a low, fast kick. The crunch was especially satisfying. As was the subsequent scream. There was a moment of collective shock, including the teenager on the ground, then the Kenpeidan all attacked at once. They tackled him to the ground, but Levi was used to getting out of tough situations.

In moments, he'd broken a Kenpeidan nose and a wrist in addition to the ankle, and elbowed one so hard in the stomach that he leaned over and threw up. The other three men there had to think about it before attacking, but they got into serious mode when they realized Levi was no ordinary street punk. One of them reached into his pocket and drew out brass knuckles, another took a stance telling Levi he was planning to kick him, hard.

Levi cracked his neck one way, then the other. He took in a bored breath and let it out, allowing the three men to each take a step closer to him. His eyes flicked open. In one moment, he dodged to the right, ran a few steps up the nearest wall, spun in the air and used his momentum to kick one Kenpeidan's nose in and yank another's arm out of its socket when the man missed a punch at Levi's head.

He used that one as a gymnastic horse, jumped up again and kicked the only one still standing in the back of the neck and threw him to the ground, so hard it knocked the wind out of him. He stood there staring down at the gasping man with an icy gaze, then stomped him once hard on the back, pushing yet more air out his gasping lungs. He raised his foot again.

"Levi," came a voice from the other end of the alley. "Enough. You've made your point."

Levi glanced up at the speaker, already knowing who it was. Sure enough, Erwin – and Commander Shardis, though Levi didn't really recognize the authority of someone who let Erwin use him like a pawn – were standing there watching, obviously having both jumped out of a passing carriage that was just visible beyond the ally.

Levi narrowed his eyes at the two of them, unmoving for a moment. At length, he sighed. He set his foot down on the ground and glanced away, now bored again. Erwin walked up to him and urged him out with a hand on his shoulder.

"We were just heading back to the barracks," he said. "Please, join us."

Levi said nothing, but followed Erwin's directions to enter the carriage, after which Shardis and Erwin both entered as well. Commander Shardis looked quite spooked by Levi, though he had always been hesitant around him. One of Shardis' strengths was being able to see the essence of a man over a relatively short period of time: he did not need to look hard to see that Levi was an iceberg, the depths of which he did not have the ability to measure.

But Erwin merely kept his gaze out the window as they traveled, head propped on his hand and one leg folded over the other. If he meant to discipline Levi for his actions just now, he obviously planned to wait until they got back. Levi sighed, getting plenty sick of this cage called the military.

When they arrived, Erwin saluted Commander Shardis and bid him good evening, then wordlessly took Levi by the shoulder again to urge him to come along with him. Levi had no objection, assuming that whatever Erwin had to say, it probably wouldn't be boring at least. Erwin took him to his room, gestured for him to enter first, then followed and closed the door behind them. It was after lights-out by now, so there was no electricity. Erwin found a candle on his desk and lit it, then leaned back against the desk and crossed his arms.

"Did that help?" he asked.

Levi gazed at him with disinterested eyes. "Did it bring my friends back to life? Did it change this royal fuck of a reality we live in? Is that what you're asking?"

"I'm asking what good it does you."

"Oh, I'm tip-top thanks, now if you're done sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, I'm going to leave this place. I've had enough," he growled, his anger building as he spoke. "Enough of this place, enough of these suicidal fucktards we work with, and plenty enough of you, Erwin Smith. Yeah. I've had all I would ever like of tall, blond, proselytizing son of a bitch. All the best, though."

Levi turned to leave, and for a moment, it seemed Erwin would let him. Then the blond nodded with a sigh. "All right," he said. Levi stopped. He aimed a glare back at him, knowing something infuriating was coming. Erwin reached into his pocket, and produced a piece of paper. He held it out for Levi to take. "But if you're leaving, you should take what you came for."

Levi's eyes slowly went wide. That was it, the document their financier had wanted. The one Isabella and Farren had given their lives for. Shocks of pain from the loss and brief thoughts of what their life outside the ghetto would be flooded through him, and he lowered his head. But it didn't take him long to recover.

He strode up to the huge man, who still held the paper out, now inches from Levi's chest. "You think I have a conscience? You think I'll waste a single thought on what will happen to you if I sell this?"

"It's your choice," Erwin said simply.

Levi made an incredulous face at him. "I wondered whether you were brave or just stupid. I guess this is your answer." He snatched the paper away and glanced at the commander's signature on top. "Not a fake, is it?"

"It's real, as is all the information inside. Do you know what it says?"

Levi merely turned away and flicked a casual wave of goodbye with the paper. "Couldn't give a rat's ass. Good luck staying alive after I hand this over."

"That is your choice. Just do me one favor in exchange." Levi let out a small sigh, then leaned back around to glance once again at the tall man. "Read it before you decide what to do with it."

Levi raised an eyebrow. Was this joker serious? He just wanted him to read it? For the price of probably his own life as well as his whole corps? But Erwin's eyes, as he gazed at them, were still and sure as ever. That cold, slate blue of his eyes was like old stone; pitted and damaged but utterly unyielding. Levi would later find he was relatively helpless against that kind of confidence. This time, he merely narrowed his eyes. Then without another word, he left.

He went back into the town, got a room at an inn with what little he had earned from that backward place, and settled down for the evening alone with a beer. He took a sip, gazing silently out his window and watching the light of the day fade.

So this was it. He'd never go back there again. Never have to suffer the humiliation of a communal shower. Never have to defend his own cynicism against relentless optimists, or share housing with those insufferable, sweaty zealots anymore. He took a sip of beer and set it down, gaze outside though he wasn't really looking at anything. And of course, never go outside the walls again.

He swallowed, lost in thought. Isabella had been so excited to see the sunlight. She, like Farren, had never even been out of the slums before they joined the Corps. He drew up a memory of her excitedly saluting a commanding officer without being asked. This life had already been growing on her then. Though neither he nor Farren had understood it, seeing her happy made them both happy.

Then an image of her disappearing inside that titan's mouth surfaced in his mind. And Farren, reaching out to him before the monster crushed his body with one fist and swallowed him too. His grip on his tankard tightened. The thought occurred to him, not for the first time, whether it was his call in the rain, the decision to go for Erwin's life amid the chaos, that had caused their deaths.

He stayed stuck in that thought for a long time. A bird flew by his window and caused his mind to briefly snap back into the present. He slowly took a sip of beer. His eyes passed down to the paper sitting there on the table beside the tankard. Well, he thought. Might as well see what they died for.

He opened up the folded pages and glanced over them. Slowly, he began to read more carefully, his frown building. There was a lot of bureaucratic garbage to get through, it was after all essentially military plans. But the bulk of it concerned a piece of civilian literature which had been attached. It was that that had apparently inspired Erwin to come up with the risky plan outlined here. Levi read that last.

By now, it was dark, and he had to light a candle to continue. He'd already learned enough about the plan itself that his own life was at risk, but he kept reading anyway. He finally read the civilian document, and unknowingly sealed his own fate. For in those few pages, it wrote about events that had happened before the walls. Yes, before.

He could hardly believe it as he read, because not a single book or written material of any kind had survived the original attack a hundred years ago, as far as he knew. But, assuming again that it was not a fake, here it was. It described a religious group that had decided on their own that mankind, in its relentless pursuit of technology and progress, had become a plague on the earth. In the most extreme measure humanly conceivable, the group decided to create a plague to wipe out the human race. Gigantic, amoral man-eaters, whose only weakness was a single meter long and ten centimeters wide. Titans.

It said little else of consequence, apart from some hints about the location of one of the known strongholds of these groups. Doubtless it would be abandoned by now, as it lay well outside the wall, but Erwin believed they might still learn something by finding it, if it existed at all. The plan was concerning that.

Finally, Levi let the paper drop back on the table. Slowly, he sat back in his chair. He watched the flickering of his struggling candle as it cast freakish images on the wall in front of him. Gradually, he came to a decision.

Dawn broke over the Survey Corps barracks. Levi was there to see it. He came to find Erwin at the earliest light, and rudely kicked his door open without knocking. Fortunately, the early-riser that he was, Erwin was calmly filling out paperwork at the time of the intrusion. He blinked at Levi's entrance, then calmly set down his pen and folded his hands on the desk.

"So. Any thoughts?" he asked.

Levi scowled at him. "Yeah," he said. He strode up and sat on Erwin's desk, then slapped the paper down before him. "The human race is fucked. I mean, they've got geniuses like you to come up with crazy plans like this, but not a single soldier as good at staying alive as me."

A smirk crossed Erwin's face. "Some might call that a good thing."

Levi shrugged, folding his arms. "Until I die it is, I suppose. Or until you figure out how to win this war."

"Will you stay with me until then?"

Levi sighed in mild irritation. "Unless you tell me you're secretly much better at using 3-D maneuvering gear than you appear to be, I guess I don't have much choice. But before all that…"

Without warning, he grabbed Erwin by his collar and slammed their lips together in a brutal kiss. After a brief moment of satisfaction as Erwin made a noise of surprise, Levi slowly drew back. "Some payback for the other day," he said simply. "I give what I get."

Erwin gradually produced a smirk. "I think the titans are in trouble."

"Count on it. Oh, and promote me." He jumped off Erwin's desk and headed for the door. "I'm sick of sharing quarters and taking orders. Whatever the next rank up is, I don't care as long as I get my own room."

"It's 'corporal'. But the only one who can promote you is the commander himself."

Levi raised an ironic brow. "You'd better get back to work, then." He thought he caught a smile creeping over Erwin's face as he left.


End file.
